LONDON: Wyevale Garden Centres Plc. is being acquired by WCC Hortis, a takeover company promoted by millionaire retail entrepreneur Tom Hunter’s TBH Trading and Icelandic investment group Baugur.

The company, which is Britain’s largest plant retailer with some 114 horticulture stores, said it has agreed to a cash offer of 310.9 million pounds and is recommending it to shareholders. The offer is at 555 pence-a-share of the company, which is at a 11 per cent premium on the company’s closing price on 16 January, the day before the bid was made.

Including debt, the deal is worth 445.1 million pounds.

Hereford-based Wyevale said Bank of Scotland is providing debt facilities for the acquisition. The loans will be used to refinance the company’s current debts, to provide working capital after the acquisition is completed, to pay fees and expenses and to pay a lump sum to its pension fund.

WCC Hortis already owns 28.7 per cent of Wyevale after it had acquired a 14.99 per cent holding from private equity group Laxey Partners at 555 pence-a-share in February. Wyevale had said at that time there could be full takeover. Laxey Partners had in December managed to oust the chairman and two directors of Wyevale in a boardroom power struggle.

Wyevale had earlier been eyed by private equity firm Cinven, which had made an offer of 325 million pounds.

Once the takeover is completed, TBH Trading will own 40.1 per cent of the company and Baugur’s BG Holding 26 per cent. Besides, HBOS Plc. unit Uberior Investments Plc. will have 19.9 per cent, Prestbury Investment Holdings, an investment company set up by Nick Leslau and Nigel Wray, 12 per cent and LxB SmallCo, a company owned by Hunter, Baugur, Uberior and company managers, the balance 2 per cent.

Wyevale had reported a net income of 505,000 pounds for the year ended 1 January, down from 11.2 million pounds a year earlier. Revenue for the period had fallen 2.5 per cent to 187.6 million pounds.

The company’s chairman, Jim Hodkinson, who joined the firm in December after his predecessor, David Williams, was removed, had said the decline in profit had been on account of declining sales and a one-time cost of 18.2 million pounds, including a 4.7-million-pound inventory write-off, 4.3 million pounds of costs related to Laxey’s efforts to remove Williams and other directors, and 9.2 million pounds resulting from a revaluation of property.

Shares of Wyevale fell 3 pence, or 0.5 per cent, to 549.5 pence Friday. They had gained 14 per cent after the bid was announced and Hunter’s name was linked to it.

LONDON: Britain’s electrical retailer DSG International Plc. is buying a controlling 75 per cent stake in Fotovista Group, the firm that owns Pixmania, a major European online camera and consumer electronic goods retailer. DSG International is paying 184 million pounds in cash for the stake.

Fotovista is market leader for online consumer electronics in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, while it has presence in 25 European countries, including all those where DSG operates. It has some 250 stores in France alone and an online digital photo service. The deal will give DSG International an exposure to the markets in 12 new European countries, including Poland, Germany and the Netherlands.

The acquisition is subject to approval by the European Union Competition Authority.

Fotovista, set up in 1970 by two brothers, — Pierre and Jean-Claude Rosenblum — had made an underlying profit before tax and interest of 7.6 million euros for the year ended March 2006 on sales of 450 million euros.

DSG International is buying the stake held by LMBO, a French venture capital firm, which now controls Fotovista, and from the Rosenblum family and a handful of managers. Under the deal agreed, the company has an option to buy out the balance 25 per cent over the next three to five years, though if Pixmania hits its financial targets the founders can hike their stake in the business.

The deal happens just days after DSG International has decided to move its Dixons brand online, rebranding its highstreet stores as Currys.digital.

DSG International’s chief executive John Clare said the stake acquisition represented a significant step in the company’s goal of becoming Europe’s leading electrical e-tailer.

The company said Fotovista’s current management team, including two sons of founder Jean-Claude Rosenblum, will continue with the firm.

LONDON: Britain’s catering company Compass Group Plc. is selling its travel concessions unit Select Service Partner, to investors including Macquarie Bank and EQT Partners for about 1.82 billion pounds in cash.

Compass said while a consortium led by Macquarie Bank will acquire the motorway services arm of Select Service Partner, EQT will buy the airport and railway food concession business of the unit.

The company also announced that it has sold 90 per cent of its European Inflight catering business, a further part of its travel concession catering business.

The company will return 500 million pounds from the sale to shareholders through buybacks over the next 18 months and pay 275 million pounds to its pension plans. It is also earmarking 250 million pounds to acquire the 51 per cent stake it does not hold in Levy Restaurants in the U.S. and the rest to pay back debts.

The Select Service Partner unit offers catering for roadside, railway, and airport concessions in some 26 countries under brands like Upper Crust and Burger King. It has outlets at sites like London’s Waterloo Station and Paris’s Gare du Nord.

The unit had operating profit before goodwill of 114 million pounds for the year ended 30 September 2005, on sales of 1.8 billion pounds.

Compass’ finance director Andrew Martin said the company will now be focusing on its core contract catering and support services and with the sale it will be able to exploit the organic growth opportunities from a strong financial base.

The catering company’s another unit, Eurest Support Services, is facing legal cases relating to supplies contracts with the United Nations. The U.N. had suspended the company as a registered vendor pending an inquiry into charges that the unit had obtained information concerning a three-year contract to supply food and water to the U.N’s peacekeeping forces in Liberia, before it bid for the contract. Compass said in February that investigations conducted by lawyers and auditors had found irregularities in obtaining the contract and the action taken by some members of the staff was not above board.

The company will have a new chief executive, Richard Cousins, formerly with plasterboard maker BPB, from June this year, when incumbent Michael Bailey steps down.

Compass shares rose to 236.25 pence, giving the company a market value of 5.10 billion pounds.

LONDON: Icelandic investment company FL Group Hf has sold its 16.9 per cent holding in budget airline easyJet Plc. for around 227 million pounds, ending speculation that it is in race to acquire the airline. The company said it earned a profit of 98 million pounds in the sale.

FL Group chief executive Hannes Smarason said the company as an investor looks at maximising investments and it felt it was the appropriate time to realise a profit. easyJet shares had almost tripled since the company made its first investment two years ago.

FL Group was seen by many as considering a bid for the airline as it increased its holding above 16 per cent. However, easyJet’s founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou had maintained that he had not received any offer from the company. And Haji-Ioannou, who has 16.6 per cent holding in the airline, while his brother and sister own about 12 percent each, had said he has no intention to sell the company.

FL Group has investments in Icelandair and Finnair and it said it is not planning to sell these stakes.

The shares were placed by JPMorgan Cazenove Ltd. on behalf of FL Group. It said in a regulatory statement that in total 68 million shares were sold.

easyJet shares were down 8.4 per cent at 328 pence, valuing the group around 1.3 billion pounds. Nearly 136 million pounds were wiped off the market value of the company in just a day. The Luton, England-based airline company’s stock had risen 71 per cent in the past 12 months mostly on account of the speculation that it is an acquisition target for FL Group.0

LONDON – Figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal that the UK government’s budget deficit in 2005 surpassed the limit imposed by the Maastricht treaty on Stability and Growth.
The budget deficit for the year 2005 was £43.7 billion or 3.6 percent of the total output.

This is more than the 3 percent guideline imposed by the EU regulations. The UK was in the red in 2004 as well when the budget deficit was pegged at £37.6 billion or 3.2 percent of the GDP. According to the EU guidelines, member nations are to restrict the budget deficit to under 3 percent of the GDP in the fiscal year.

Reacting to these figures, the Treasury said, “As set out in the Budget last week, the UK treaty deficit is forecast to fall to 3% in the coming fiscal year, and will reach 1.6% by 2010/11. The UK continues to have the lowest average debts and deficits of any major European economy with the public finances sustainable and increases in public investment fully affordable.”

The ONS said that the last time the budget deficit was contained to under 3 percent was in 2003. These figures for the current year are for the calendar year and the fiscal year figures are not available, but it is expected that they are in the red as well.

The budget deficit for February was also larger than expected and there is not increased pressure on Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to increase taxes. The International Monetary Fund has said that the Chancellor is facing a mega-deficit and could have to raise taxes for as much as £6 billion.

EDINBURGH: Hall of Broxburn, one of Scotland’s largest food farms, is axing 150 workers at its West Lothian plant with immediate effect. This is a sequel to the planned industrial action by Unison, representing workers engaged in public services, over pension dispute. The strike is likely to impact pig production in Scotland as there will be no inspectors to certify the processing.

The owners of Hall of Broxburn, Grampian Country Foods, warned the proposed five-day strike, which is part of the industrial action, will lead to 1000 more job losses.

However, Unison has now agreed that there will be inspectors to certify meat at the plant next week, though the strike by the meat hygiene workers will be on.

In the light of the threatened strike, the firm had said it would not be able to accept pigs at Broxburn for processing next week.

Grampian Country Foods’ managing director Cameron Davidson had warned that the strike could have threatened the survival of Halls. He said the employees understand their colleagues genuine concerns over pensions but they are “mystified as to how nine people on strike can jeopardise 1,000 jobs at Hall’s and the future of the pig industry across Scotland”.

The plant processes up to 12,000 pigs each week.

The Grampian Country Foods Group has already closed down the only other large pig processing plant in Scotland at Buckie 12 months ago. If Halls too closes down, Scottish pig producers will have to find other outlets in England for their processing needs.

The Scottish pig herd, once known as the most technically efficient in the European Union, has been facing sharp decline in recent years because of higher welfare standards. Producers have to either invest in new equipment and facilities or quit the industry. Many have opted to leave it.

The pension dispute had seen some 200,000 government workers striking work in Scotland Tuesday last.

The Meat Hygiene Service employs 184 staff in Scotland, including 155 inspectors. Of these, 160 are Unison members. Hall’s uses nine Meat Hygiene Service members as meat inspectors at the Broxburn plant.